A win by a single deaf person is seen as a win for the whole community. This is the sentiment of Sisipho Dumse’s who won first place in the barista’s category at the Distell inter-hotel challenge awards.
Dumse said she struggles to find the words to express how she felt about her win, but wanted to share her victory with other deaf people.
“I feel really happy. It’s important to me because it shows people that I have all the necessary skills. I can do everything, even though I am deaf,” she said.
She added: “To become a barista is not easy, and especially as a deaf person, there is more pressure.”
The award-winning barista has worked at I Love Coffee since 2019 and it was at the cafe that she was inspired to hone her craft. The I Love Coffee group is a social enterprise that trains and employs deaf barista and chefs.
The 24-year-old barista said she never thought she would be a barista.
“I wanted to be a teacher but I’ve faced a lot of obstacles. When I joined I Love Coffee, I developed confidence,” she said.
“I realised that this is where I want to be because there is sign language within the company. It has changed so much for me,” she said.
While serving customers, Dumse also teaches them sign language and said it was one of the most rewarding parts of her job.
“I teach them how to order their favourite coffee in sign language. I enjoy the interaction,” she said.
In her time as a barista, Dumse said one of the challenges she faced was that being deaf requires hyper-focus.
“I can’t hear the coffee machine go on or off. Sometimes I think I’ve already turned it on, just to find out that I haven’t.
“That’s when I realise that I am running out of time. I have to be focused,” she said.
Her motivation for her work is rooted in her passion for it.
“I always tell myself that anything is possible, whether I am deaf or not. I know I can do anything.
“My life has changed completely because everything is now in sign language. It makes me feel like I can achieve more,” she said.
Dumse said in future she wants to train as many people in the deaf community to be barista.
“I love being a barista so much. I would like to have my own company one day that incorporates sign language,” she said.
Dumse wants to remind others in the deaf community that just because they are deaf, doesn’t mean they should stop dreaming and reaching for the stars.
“Deaf is an assigned label, it’s part of our identity. You can do anything that hearing people can.
“We need to work hard for our dreams. If you have goals and you want to achieve them, you can get the support you need, but you have to work hard,” she said.
Disability advocacy specialist at UCT, Lesego Modutle, presented a speech at the Distell inter-hotel challenge awards, speaking about bridging the gap between the deaf and the hearing.
Modutle’s first engagement with sign language was at the University of the Free State, one of the few universities in South Africa to offer it as a language choice. Modutle said she chose to study it out of curiosity, as part of her degree in media studies.
“I always wanted to know how words are made out of our hands and I wanted to understand it,” she said.
Modutle said society has marginalised deaf people.
“There are an estimated four million deaf people in South Africa but we don’t see them. We’ve created this gap between ourselves and deaf people.
“As people who can hear, we are flooded with communication all the time. Communication and the way it’s designed is not inclusive for people who are deaf.
“The real reason why we should make space is that persons with disabilities are our equals and share the same rights that are afforded to us by our Constitution.
“This includes the right to work. We do not need to “create” job opportunities for persons with disabilities, as though they are aliens from a different planet – the jobs are there. What we need to do is to employ them.
“When I see the word disability, I do not see an inability, I see a different ability just as we are all different in our skills and inabilities. How does one then ensure that the workplace is conducive for a person with disabilities? Well, it starts with a mind shift. Let us unlearn the preconceived ideas and biases that we have about persons with disabilities, that are often always wrong, and learn more about them,” Modutle said.